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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Postage stamps on receipts etc..

Dominica News Online - Sunday, April 16th, 2017 at 1:53 PM

I went to make an application for title at the Registry and was required to go get $5.00 stamp at the Post Office. I have also experienced the need for postage stamps to be placed on receipts.. The value of these practices elude me and in my opinion constitute a mindless waste of time.. Such old practices should be eliminated from doing business..

Regards,
Dr Clayton Shillingford

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18 Comments

Like or Dislike: 10AnonymousApril 19, 2017

Hmm. there would be opposition to change. The guy selling glue and staples to affix the stamps for a start and how about the one that may make a profit on ordering them? These postage stamps are very poor quality and badly printed in the first place and no credit to our country.

We can start with immigration. Why doe they have to stamp my passport every time I enter and leave my own country? The French don’t do that as far as I know, why do we? It only fills up the pages and I may have to apply for a new passport before it expires. Developed countries have scanners that can read passports and so keep accurate track of people’s movements and I believe we have the necessary skills and equipment also. Get with the times fellows and don’t stay behind.

I MUST SAY I ASKED MYSELF THE SAME QUESTION , IN 2014 I WAS REQUIRED TO GO TO THE POST OFFICE TO BUY A $5.00 STAMP AND RETURN TO THE REGISTRY TO GET COPIES OF MY PARENT HOME TITLES
I ASKED WHY I HAD TO DO THAT? WHY THE REGISTRY COULD NOT JUST TAKE THE $5.00 FROM ME ?

Welcome to the third world where the idea of updating processes does not seem to occur to anyone. These are practices that have been in place for over 100 years and no one has seen it fit to question why they keep doing these things.

If one were to do an audit of government procedures, I would bet there are over 100 practices that should be completely revamped or replaced. They have no place in a modern society. We inherited these practices from the British and they have since modernized, but sadly we are still stuck in the 19th century.

I have lamented the same thing when I visit Dominica. Try to pay for the departure tax at the airport. The last time I was in DA two years ago, they were still using that thick ledger to enter information, and writing a receipt from a book using carbon paper. I have not seen carbon paper where I live in donkey years. The same goes when you apply for a temporary driver’s licence.

This is a long-standing gripe of mine also. I I want to view a company file at the relevant registry I first have to get a $5.00 stamp from the post office on the other side of town.
I would imagine that this arrangement, apart from being archaic also distorts the accurate reporting of the Post Office business since it does not record whether the stamps its sells are for the conveyance of mail , tax revenue or philatelical proceeds. For the ease of doing business I would instruct those service providers that today are compelled to attach post office stamps to their bills to add the relevant amount to their invoices and report it to Inland revenue in the same way as they do with vat.

Yes, you at Immigration, thinking you have everything sorted after waiting forever for your interview and have to walk to other side of Town for damn stamp! Just take my money or have a machine on site if you really need that extra money!

That is a means of collecting the needed revenue by the Government without the requirement for having cashiers & the necessary security & policies & procedures at multiple locations.
It is inconvenient, but a more secure system that is not open to ‘bobol’ as easily.

You are extremely right… the entire government system need to be reevaluated and processes updated including some of the filing costs. A lot of these rules and processes are dated and truly a waste of time. It turns simple processes that should take 5 mins into an hr. Including the banks… as a foreigner, why does it take me 2/3 hours to change currency. Shame!

I couldn’t agree with you more Dr. Shillingford. It is a form of tax so why don’ we just add it to the bill there and then instead of going thorough the practice of attaching a separate postage stamp with a metal staple, since the postage stamps furnished by our Post Office come without adhesive. This is indeed an outdated, inefficient practice in 2017.

I agree with you 100 % When I am in D.A. I see it at domlec, and other government places of business , I guess it is an old colonial practice, and it only profit the people who make the stamps, stamps are for posting mails not for receipts. a hand stamp or a rubber stamp like the one that you dip in ink would be a better idea.

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